Letter to Kerry Campaign Workers.

First, I want to say how much I enjoyed meeting and working with you all. Despite how the election turned out, I refuse to believe that we were not fighting the good fight. That said, I recall the old story about the prize fighter who was in the ring with a far more talented opponent. After each losing round, the courageous but outmatched contestant staggered to his corner where his manager shouted, “Keep it up, you’re doing great! He’s not laying a glove on you.” After more than a few rounds of this charade, the bloodied and exhausted warrior cried, “Please, keep an eye on the referee, because somebody is kicking the hell out of me!”

Well, that’s the way I feel. The hell has been kicked out of me and I want to blame someone.

I’m mad at John Kerry, but he did his best. I’m mad at his advisors, but I’m not sure that I would have advised doing anything differently. I’m mad at the primary process, feeling now that Howard Dean probably would have made a better candidate, but that’s hindsight. I’m mad at all the people who voted for Bush because they’re all stupid, but they won and our guy didn’t so who’s stupid? I’m mad at people who use God for political gain, and I’ll bet that God ain’t happy either. At least I’m in good company.

But most of all, I’m mad at myself for having invested so much emotional capital in hating George W. Bush. It blinded me to the reality of politics in America today: People are in desperate search of a simpler time and, therefore, a simple message sells. George W. Bush’s message was simple and it was easy to buy.

I’ve been in the marketing and sales business for a long time and something I learned seems to apply; don’t give a sales force too many ideas to sell because the big idea will get lost in the noise. When I think of all the reasons why George W. Bush ought not to be president for another four years I’m overwhelmed. Unfortunately, to anyone but Kerry’s base (read that as us), that’s an underwhelming and very
noisy message.

So, now what? That’s what I’m dealing with now, as I suspect you are. If you are up to performing an act of charity for a somewhat punch-drunk fighter, I would love to know how you are going to continue the fight because I am really frightened for America. It’s my country, too, and I don’t think I recognize it any more.